1. More than 72 million border crossings reported for the first nine months of 2013 alone and according to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, the total number will be approximately 95 million.

2. Pollution has been worsening for many years in China, but 2013 moved air pollution from the level of irritating to the level of plainly unbearable. In Hong Kong, big posters showing the Hong Kong island skyline in the sun had to be erected on the Kowloon side to give Mainland visitors a background for the obligatory photo, which on most days of the year is no longer possible.

3. The October 2013 Golden Week of collective holidays was even by the official Chinese media criticised as a “Golden Mess”. With China’s rising population and pollution levels more Chinese are looking for a European break to escape busy city life.

4. The new tourism law, which came into effect on October 1st, changed the rules of the game, trying to end the worst practices of subsidising below-cost package tour offers with income from forced shopping and poor quality services.

5. For a long time security concerns triumphed over the demands of the tourism industry to lower the barriers of entry for Chinese visitors. 2013 saw the first signs of change with destinations such as the Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius entering into visa waiver agreements with China.

6. Last year there was a move towards self-organised tours to Europe, with customised tour operators gaining ground, helped by the announcement by George Osborne in October last year.

7. Exotic locations have gained popularity; in 2012 Nepal welcomed 71,861 Chinese tourist arrivals, almost 90% of which were first time visitors.

8. There was a change in attitude in China, with outbound travel seen as social capital within China. In 2013 there were high levels of outbound Chinese tourism into Europe with Chinese visitors making investments in real estate, including tourism infrastructure.

9. This year international hotel groups, cruise ship companies, credit card issuers and other companies which are traditionally not directly involved in providing tourism services all started to take serious money into their hands to create “China-centric” offers for Chinese overseas travellers, many of which will see the light of day in 2014.